With one champion, one second-place qualifier and four third-place finishers, wrestling team head coachsaid it was a “good” day for the Westfield wrestling team at Sunday’s 37th annual Union County Tournament at Union.
Westfield, sparked by two-time champion Mike Kalimtzis, placed second with 153 points. Brearley, which had the most champions with five, captured the title for a record-tying seventh straight season, garnering 180 points.
Kalimtzis, who won the 103 pound title as a sophomore and then finished second as a junior after losing in last year’s 103 final, captured the 120 championship by edging returning UCT champion Ryne Morrison of Governor Livingston 2-1 in the final. Morrison, a senior, won the 112 title last year.
Find out what's happening in Westfieldfor free with the latest updates from Patch.
Placing second for the Blue Devils was junior Nick Rotondo at 138 pounds, with the top seed falling in the final to second-seeded Deondre Floyd of Elizabeth 8-3.
Finishing third for Westfield were senior Ellis Opoku at 145, junior Colin Barber at 152, senior Mike DeLouisa at 160 and junior Kyle Kania at heavyweight.
Find out what's happening in Westfieldfor free with the latest updates from Patch.
“It wasn’t a great day, if it was we would have won the championship,” said Kurz, who for the fourth time was named Union County Coach of the Year.
Kurz, with a record announced as 132-91 including a Union County-leading 13-0 so far this year, is in his 14th season as Westfield’s head coach after two years as an assistant. It was also announced that he is a former district and region coach of the year as well.
The previous highest finish by Westfield in a UCT under Kurz was fourth place. The last time Westfield finished as high as second was before Kurz was the head coach. Westfield last won the UCT in 1990.
“We had a couple of kids that we expected to place a little higher,” Kurz said. “I felt that two others could have reached the finals. Mike (Kalimtzis) did what he was supposed to do. Everyone else kind of did what they were supposed to do. A couple of places we came up short.”
Kalimtzis, a senior with just one loss, scored a takedown for a 2-0 lead. Morrison got one point back in the second quarter to make it 2-1. Kalimtzis then held Morrison off in the final two minutes to win the first high school bout between the seniors.
“I wanted to get a takedown early and get in on him,” Kalimtzis said. “I wasn’t on my feet for much of the match. I was mainly on the mat wrestling, besides the third period. I tried to ride him out on top as best as I could.”
In the third period, Morrison tried to turn Kalimtzis over, but the Westfield wrestler wouldn’t budge. Kalimtzis also denied a takedown, which would have given the GL grappler the lead.
“I, obviously, didn’t wrestle my best,” Kalimtzis said. “My game plan going into the match was to dominate, but I came out with a win, even though it wasn’t the way I wanted to.”
Kalimtzis might get another opportunity to wrestle Morrison when Westfield hosts GL Feb. 1 at 4 p.m.
They actually faced each other two summers ago in what Kurz called the Old Bridge Duals. Kurz said that Morrison won by a point.
“Morrison is a tough wrestler, who was a UCT champion last year,” Kurz said. “We knew what Morrison could do. They both have similar styles. We were confident Mike would be a little better, which he was. Mike came out strong, had a good first period, got a nice takedown, was good on his feet and controlled Morrison on top. Mike kept his composure.”
Rotondo, who produced his highest place in a UCT, escaped to tie his match vs. Floyd at 2-2 just before the end of the second period.
With two minutes to go it was anybody’s match. Floyd scored a takedown for a 4-2 lead with 1:15 to go before Rotondo gained a point back to make it 4-3 with 59 seconds left. Then Floyd had Rotondo wrapped up right until the final buzzer, managing to score two points on a reverse and three back points at the very end for the eventual 8-3 victory.
“We knew Floyd’s style and I thought we had a pretty good game plan,” Kurz said. “I thought Nick wrestled a good match. There are just some things we have to fine tune.”
Westfield hosts Elizabeth Friday Jan. 27, at 5 p.m., with another Rotondo vs. Floyd matchup a possibility.
“Hopefully we can correct some of those things by Friday,” Kurz said. “Nick had some opportunities. He had some shots, but just had trouble finishing.”
DeLouisa, the fourth seed at 160, went 3-1, with his only loss coming in the semifinals to eventual champion and top-seeded John Balboni of Brearley by fall in 3:31. DeLouisa bounced back to defeat third-seeded Phil Woods of Roselle Park 5-1 for third place and his highest UCT finish.
"Mike had an outstanding day, he really overachieved,” Kurz said.
Westfield defeated Brearley 31-25 Wednesday at Dayton in Springfield, with Kalimtzis winning the 14th and final bout by fall in one minute over Nick Cantalupo for the deciding points.
“Brearley is definitely more of a tournament team than a dual meet team,” Kurz said. “They have five to six kids in their lineup with just one, two or three losses, but have another five to six kids with only one, two or three wins. That way you’re exposed more in a dual meet than in a tournament setting.”
Brearley won its seventh UCT total – all coming in the last last seven years. The only other team to win the UCT seven years in a row was Roselle Park, which accomplished the feat from 1997-2003. The Panthers have won the UCT the most, with 11 crowns.
Roselle Park finished second seven years in a row from 2004-2010. Now the Panthers have placed third the last two years.
Sunday was the fourth time in four opportunities Westfield finished ahead of Roselle Park this season. First was in the Nutley Tournament, with Nutley first, Westfield second and Roselle Park third. Second was in the Park Invitational at Roselle Park, with Hanover Park first, Westfield second and Roselle Park third. The third time was their Jan. 4 dual match in Westfield, with the Blue Devils winning 43-24.
